Core 1..120 Hansard (PRISM::Advent3b2 17.25)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
House of Commons Debates VOLUME 147 Ï NUMBER 204 Ï 2nd SESSION Ï 41st PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Thursday, April 30, 2015 Speaker: The Honourable Andrew Scheer CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 13261 HOUSE OF COMMONS Thursday, April 30, 2015 The House met at 10 a.m. The first report is respecting participation in the mid-year executive committee held in London, United Kingdom, April 28 to May 1. Prayers The second report is respecting participation in the 60th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in Yaoundé, Camer- oon, from October 2 to10, 2014. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS *** Ï (1005) [Translation] [English] COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO PETITIONS FINANCE Mr. Tom Lukiwski (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of Mr. Guy Caron (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Bas- the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, ques, NDP) moved: pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both That the Eighth Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, presented on official languages, the government's responses to two petitions. Wednesday, December 10, 2014, be concurred in. *** He said: Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with the excellent member for Welland. INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS Mr. Gordon Brown (Leeds—Grenville, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about the prebudget consultations, since that is pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in the subject of the report. I am in a good mood this morning, because both official languages, four reports of the Canadian delegation of yesterday we learned that the Rimouski Oceanic will be taking part the Canada-United States Inter-parliamentary Group. in the Memorial Cup as the champions of the Quebec major junior hockey league. This will be their fourth time participating in 20 The first report concerns the seventh annual conference of the years, which is remarkable. Southeastern United States—Canadian Provinces Alliance that was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America, May 4 to My good mood is a little tempered, however, by the content of the 6, 2014. prebudget consultations. This is in no way a criticism of the chair of the Standing Committee on Finance, the member for Edmonton— [Translation] Leduc, for he is doing an excellent job. I think all the parties in the The second concerns the 24th Annual Summit of the Pacific House and all members of the finance committee recognize what a NorthWest Economic Region held in Whistler, British Columbia, great job he is doing. Canada, from July 20 to 24, 2014. Although there are some interesting points in the prebudget The third concerns the National Conference of State Legislatures consultation report, there are also some really troubling elements. legislative summit held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of We have no problem with some of the points, and we have supported America, from August 18 to 22, 2014. them. Some of them even appear in budget 2015. Others, however, do pose a problem. [English] Until January, I was a member of the Standing Committee on The fourth report concerns the Canadian/American Border Trade Finance and had been for three years. Usually, the recommendations Alliance conference that was held in Washington, D.C., United were a fairly accurate—though not perfect, by any means— States, September 28 to 30, 2014. reflection of the testimony we heard. However, the recommendations Mr. Joe Preston (Elgin—Middlesex—London, CPC): Mr. in this report, which was tabled in December 2014, make it more of a Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to pre-election document for the existing government. Most if not all of present, in both official languages, two reports of the Canadian the recommendations are from the Conservative side. Not a single delegation of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. NDP or Liberal amendment was accepted. 13262 COMMONS DEBATES April 30, 2015 Routine Proceedings Annual prebudget consultations are an opportunity to hear from have made it impossible for many Canadians to get employment witnesses from many parts of Canadian society. Whether they are insurance even though they contributed to it. Today, less than 38% of from the business sector, unions or civil society, their concerns Canadians who contribute to employment insurance, who make their deserve to be heard and properly reflected in the prebudget contributions expecting that employment insurance will help them, consultation report. can get it when they lose their job. This does not make sense and, at the end of the day, it is very detrimental to regions like mine, like the In this case, there are a number of problematic elements. Several Lower St. Lawrence, eastern Quebec, and eastern Canada. The recommendations in the report are nothing more than lip service. For economy in these regions has historically depended on seasonal example, recommendation 23 says that the federal government employment, to a great extent, and still does. I am proud of the should consider new ways to increase support for the Canadian efforts my riding and my region have made over the past few years aerospace industry, but does not say how. This recommendation is to diversify their economy and ensure that they are not as reliant on akin to many of the other 47 recommendations in this report in that it seasonal employment as they have been in the past. When we talk says where the government wants to go but not how to get there. about seasonal jobs, we are talking mostly about jobs in the primary That is a problem because other recommendations are more than sector, the resource sector, the forestry or the fishery. We are also just wishful thinking. They are blatantly a rationale for Conservative talking about jobs in the service sector, which for obvious reasons policies. In any case, the committee itself was not even able to are only seasonal jobs, in the tourism industry for example. Going unanimously agree on those recommendations. back to natural resources, there are also core industries such as agriculture. A farmer cannot harvest in winter. Maple syrup When the government proposes to continue reducing tariffs, for producers cannot do much of their work in the fall or winter either. example, it fails to mention that, overall, tariffs have gone up because it eliminated the general preferential tariff. The government has failed to acknowledge this reality that affects Prebudget consultations should be an exercise that reflects what several regions. We spoke out against this when the reform was was heard in committee, but in this case what we got seemed more introduced. Year after year, many witnesses have told us that the like the Conservative government's shopping list to prepare for the system is no longer adequate today. The EI fund has a surplus next election. We think that is unfortunate because the Standing because of the increase in premiums imposed by the Conservatives. Committee on Finance should be the place where we can thoroughly The government no longer knows what to do with it. One of the examine all the policies that were adopted by the government. That recommendations we received was to increase access to the program. also includes Conservative members. The Conservatives completely ignored the recommendations. Instead they took part of the surplus and decided to give it to small and A committee meeting is the only place where we can call medium-sized businesses. That measure was passed last year. Small members by name. The reason for that is that, in committee, they are and medium-sized businesses were handed over $550 million of the not government members and they do not represent their riding. employment insurance surplus with the hope of creating jobs. They are there to use their expertise to advise the government on However, the House will remember that the Parliamentary Budget what direction it should take. That is not what happened in the Officer's report stated that it would take over half a billion dollars to prebudget consultations. This time, the consultations were much create 800 jobs, contrary to what the government was saying. Today, more negative than previous consultations and reports. we find ourselves in a situation where the surplus in the EI fund, which we would like to be independent, has in large part funded the Ï (1010) balanced budget that the federal government is boasting about. We submitted a minority report, which is a supplementary rather than dissenting report. It is supplementary to the 47 recommendations The prebudget consultation report contains several interesting presented by the government. There was consensus on some of those items. The work of the committee chair, the member from Edmonton recommendations, but the two opposition parties voted against —Leduc was impeccable. However, I would like to submit to the others. House the problems that exist in terms of the philosophy of One problematic issue that the government refused to address, implementing the prebudget consultations. The government is even though it was mentioned a number of times during the moving steadily away from taking the consultations into account consultations, is employment insurance. The report was tabled in and that remains a serious concern for us. December 2014, but at that time, we were already worried about the government using the employment insurance fund to balance its On that note, I will turn the floor over to the member for Welland, budget since we have seen that happen before. That concern is who is certainly going to continue in the same vein. included in the NDP's supplementary report. We had no idea what the budget was going to look like, but we were worried about that Ï (1015) happening because of what we had been hearing.